The final verses of Revelation chapter twenty speak of a judicial inquiry where “…Several books were opened, and then the book of life was opened. The dead were judged by what those books said they had done” (Revelation 20:12 CEV). In contrast to a human legal proceeding, this judicial process will not seek to ascertain the facts of our lives. Those facts are already known, for they are recorded within these books. So unlike a legal hearing that seeks to adjudicate the facts of a case, this portion of Scripture depicts the rendering of a sentence.
To underscore the universal nature of that proceeding, Revelation 20:13 tells us that “…important and unimportant people” (GW) were recalled from the sea, the burial grave, and from Hades (the abode of the dead) to stand before this throne. Revelation 20:14-15 then closes this chapter by saying, “…death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the second death). Those who did not have their name written in the book of the living were thrown into the lake of fire” (GNT).
This horrific imagery has led one commentator to confront some difficult truths…
“There is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea of hell. It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ Himself. Almost all the biblical teaching about hell comes from the lips of Jesus. It is this doctrine, perhaps more than any other, that strains even the Christian’s loyalty to the teaching of Christ.
Modern Christians have pushed the limits of minimizing hell in an effort to sidestep or soften Jesus’ own teaching. The Bible describes hell as a place of outer darkness, a lake of fire, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of eternal separation from the blessings of God, a prison, a place of torment where the worm doesn’t turn or die.
These graphic images of eternal punishment provoke the question, should we take these descriptions literally or are they merely symbols? I suspect they are symbols, but I find no relief in that. We must not think of them as being merely symbols. It is probable that the sinner in hell would prefer a literal lake of fire as his eternal abode to the reality of hell represented in the lake of fire image.
If these images are indeed symbols, then we must conclude that the reality is worse than the symbol suggests. The function of symbols is to point beyond themselves to a higher or more intense state of actuality than the symbol itself can contain. That Jesus used the most awful symbols imaginable to describe hell is no comfort to those who see them simply as symbols.” (1)
(1) Sproul, R. C. (1992). Essential truths of the Christian faith. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House. Page 21.